I'm So Tired. What Your Brain Might Be Trying to Tell You.

"I'm so tired today"How many times during the day do you hear people say this? Often
just hearing someone say those four words will suddenly make you feel
tired too even if you weren’t just a few minutes before. The thought of
being so tired has now entered your mind. One way to prevent this it to
just become aware of what’s influencing you. In this case, you could
counteract it with the thought of “I feel full of energy today”.

Thoughts like the one above can influence how you feel but your
brain may also be trying to tell you something. If you’re not
listening, the mind may try to make you slow down or even stop what
you’re doing by making you feel more and more tired. If you feel
exhausted all the time, it makes it really tough to feel confident about
yourself and to do the activities that increase your self esteem. It’s
important to figure out why you’re feeling the way you do.

Here are some reasons why you might be feeling so tired:

• Are you bored?If you’re bored with your job or your
personal life, you’re going to feel tired. It's amazing how much your
attitude towards life will affect how you feel.

Here’s an example, you come home from work and just collapse on the
couch because you're so tired. You have no desire to move and don’t
want to do anything. The phone rings. It’s your best friend and he’s
just won backstage tickets to a band that you love. How do you feel
now? Five minutes ago you were dead tired. Now that you’re getting the
chance to do something exciting and new, you’re full of energy again.
You don’t even think about being tired anymore. The difference is that
you have something exciting and fun to look forwards to now.

So, take a good look at what’s happening in your life. Do you
feel like you’re trapped doing the same thing every day with no hope for
escape? I used to feel like my whole life was “get up, go to work,
come home, make dinner, do a few chores, go to bed, repeat again
tomorrow”. When I came home I would just be so tired. Once I realized
what was happening and changed it, it was absolutely amazing how much
energy I suddenly had. Life is way too short to spend it bored out of
your mind. So, what’s happening in your life? Is it time to look for a
new job? Do you need to try something new?

• Are you frustrated?Just like the previous point, if you’re
frustrated with what’s happening in your life or with the world in
general, you can end up feeling tired all the time. Especially, if
you’re at the point where you feel like you don’t have any options. You
feel like you're a victim and that there's nothing you can do. The truth
is that you always have options and different choices you can make.
You just need to figure out what they are. Ask yourself, what are you
feeling and why?

• Are there medical issues? (thyroid, low iron levels, etc.)Sometimes
there really could be a medical reason as to why you’re not functioning
at full potential. Could be a good opportunity just to get checked out
by your physician.

• Do you have SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder)?SAD is
estimated to affect 6 out of every 100 people in North America during
the winter months. If you’re feeling constantly tired and are craving
carbohydrates and sweet foods, you might have SAD which is caused by a
lack of sunlight. You can read about my personal experience with SAD
here: Why am I so tired?

• Are you eating well?Sugar and caffeine can give us a
temporary feeling of energy but you’ll find that you’re even more tired
a few hours later. Plus, the next day you're also going to be tired
from what you ate the day before. Check out my review of the Schwarzbein Principle. She really explains well the principles of proper nutrition and how what you eat may be affecting how you think and feel.

• Are you doing too much, staying up too late?We all
need some downtime but today’s society runs at full speed 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week and it’s very easy to get caught up in it. Also, I
know all the best tv shows seem to be on way past my bedtime. Burning
yourself out from doing too much or not getting enough sleep is
eventually going to catch up with you.

• Are you around negative people?Negative people can be like
black holes which just suck all your energy out of you because they're
emotionally draining to be around. Be careful of allowing negative
people to steal your energy. Here are 10 tips on "How To Deal With Negative People".

• I'm So Tired SummaryFeeling tired is one of the most common complaints that physicians
hear. It's also not an easy one to diagnose as it could be caused by so
many different ailments. The suggestions above are just a few reasons
of why you might be feeling so tired. The important thing is that if
you are feeling tired all the time, take the time to listen and see if
your mind and body are trying to tell you something. There could be a
quick and easy fix to your situation and it could also end up changing
your life.

Additional Resources

How's Your Clutter?
Being in a disorganized and cluttered environment can completely drain
you both physically and mentally as well. A really good book I just finished reading about how to gain control over your clutter is called,

What I like about this book is that it isn't the usual organizing tips you hear like, "If you buy a paid of shoes, throw a pair out." which never worked for me. This book is much more about developing the mindset of keeping only the items that bring you joy. What's really helped me is her ideas about how to be mentally able to let items go. I'm really bad for keeping things "Just in case I need it" or because "It's still useful". So, this book really helped me to see my items from a different perspective. She also doesn't believe in constantly tidying. She believes you should go through one major tidy session which might take 6 months but once you've done that using her specific method then she says you should never go through rebound which is when you clean and clean and clean and you're in a mess again two minutes later. I have lived most of my life the rebound way. Anyway, I'm working my way through her book and feeling like she really will help me to let go of all the items I have weighing me down mentally plus physically.

I recommend reading this book if you're dealing with clutter and disorganization.